“The party of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has won a sweeping victory in the country’s parliamentary election, taking 47 percent of the seats in the new assembly. The Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) won 235 of the 498 seats in the People’s Assembly, including a 108 in the first-past-the-post constituency votes. The hardline Islamist Al-Nour party is the assembly’s second largest bloc, with 29 percent of the seats won on party lists.”

The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) is an Islamist political party in Egypt. The Freedom and Justice Party will be based on Islamic law, “but will be acceptable to a wide segment of the population,” said leading member Essam al-Arian. The Al-Nour Party is an ultra-conservative Islamist party maintaining a strict version of Islam which is the same as the one official interpretation in Saudi Arabia.

What will be the outcome of this situation?

Is this the beginning of the end of American military cooperation with Egypt? Including the funding of the Egyptian military?

What does this mean for the future of Egypt? Only thousands of tourists instead of millions? Which company will invest in a country run by a large majority of Islamists?

What will it mean for the Christian Copts in Egypt?

What will it mean for Israel?

I’m worried.

I am very worried.

What began as a peaceful revolution driven by moderate Muslims could end up as a total disaster.

Certain well known foreign forces will likely covertly stage a coup to replace this inconvenient, but democratically elected government with a more “controllable” dictatorship.
It would not be the first time.

It is better dealing with a government that is democratically elected than a dictatorship. I didn’t expect this result however. It may be a response to the chaos the country has been in but we have to respect the result. If you advocate democracy you have to accept the outcome. Let’s give them a chance, it is their country after all.

It’s a government that actually seems to reflect the views of the Egyptians they’re supposed to represent. I think I’d rather deal with them than corrupt puppets who are resented by their own populace.

I’m worried about the Salafis, but not the Brotherhood so much. The question will be whether the Brotherhood tilts left or right. Even if they tilt right, I don’t see them instigating a war against Israel. They will probably do more to support the occupied territories in Israel though. And honestly I don’t care if they do, because I think the occupation is wrong.

My main concern would be for the secularists in Egypt who get oppressed under increasingly Islamic laws. Even without the state sponsored terrorism and aggression towards the US*, Iran became a pretty shitty place after the religious folks took over.

*Not that I blame Iran for being aggressive against the US, after the shit we pulled in their country.

Also: the Middle East is a damn religious place. Probably much more religious than America was during the 1950’s.

Now consider all the things our democratically elected government did during the 50’s to support and enforce Christian values. I would certainly never want to live in 1950’s America. And I wouldn’t want to live in Iran, or Brotherhood-Salafist Egypt. But we got better, and so can they. It just might take a few generations. But exposure to the wider world will certainly help that transition happen.

@bkcunningham – The Ennahda Movement in Tunisia is at least seen as being moderate Islamist, although I do consider this to be an oxymoron. What I find most shocking is that 29% of the Egyptian voters elected a ultra-conservative party which supports all the incredible human rights violations which are a daily reality in Saudi Arabia where women are treated like cattle. It is my hope that these 29% are the victims of brainwashing. There are almost no books written in Arabic or being translated into Arabic and when they are they are far too expensive for most people to buy. Yet the Saudi religious nutcases do sponsor cheap religious leaflets promoting Salafism with strict Sharia law and make them available in all Arab-speaking countries. A huge problem.

@Qingu – Yes, secularism most likely will not survive. Once hard-line Islamists are in full power I don’t think a demoractic election will be able to remove them from power. They will eventually declare democracy to be unislamic.